Friday, October 9, 2015

Love Letters!

So, when your boyfriend is going through boot camp, girls, you get the pleasure of writing and receiving love letters. Well, hopefully. And, girls, let me tell you, this is not some "Dear, John" BS. It's just not. You won't be getting a letter every week; you'll be lucky to get two letters a month. And, you won't be able to hold up a conversation about anything, because he'll be busy and want to tell you what's going on with him. Plus, he'll be cut off from the rest society; he won't know that the new Hotel Transylvania movie came out.

So, if I haven't already crushed your hopes and dreams, let me tell you how and what to write in love letters.

1. ALWAYS stay positive! Well, at least write positive things to him. Yes, it's hard when you see a couple kissing and you suddenly have an ache in your chest to do that with your recruit. Yes, it's hard to get out of bed in the morning and yes, it's hard to go to sleep at night. But, you can't tell him any of that. He has to know that you're okay at home, so you have to write positive thoughts to him, even if you're at your lowest. I wrote my recruit a very sad letter and all he could say was "Baby don't cry. I'll be there soon". I should have NEVER sent him that letter, because he needed to focus on his training, not on me back home. I really regret it, so girls, keep your letters positive, even if you're heart is broken in a million little pieces, because you're his backbone. He needs you to stay strong and to keep him going with positive, confident, encouraging letters. So, no sappy letters. Stay positive!

2. Send pictures! But, ladies, NO NUDES! None, nah dah, zip. Pop culture has put it in our heads that it's okay to send nude pictures to our boyfriends in the military so they don't forget what we look like. But, this is a big no-no, especially while the recruit is at boot camp! It counts as pornographic material and your recruit could get in major trouble, which is never good. But, do send him pictures of what your doing. Boys are very visual, so they have a better time understanding with picture then just by reading it. If you went out to the club with your girls, take a picture. If you worked out at the gym and lost six pounds, take a picture. If you went out to lunch with his mom, take a picture. Take pictures and make a collage and print them out. Even if they're in black and white, he'll still like seeing what you're up to. Plus, it saves him time because he doesn't have to read about it. Plus, he gets to see your beautiful face. So, definitely send him pictures, but again, no nudes!

3. Get creative with it! Sending letters can be a lot more fun if you incorporate arts and crafts or anything that will make him smile. You can write him a knock knock joke. You can make the ABC's of how much you love him. You can send him a hug, with a picture of your arms held out on one side of a piece paper and your arms around yourself on the other side. You can put on the reddest lipstick and cover the entire page with kisses! (Just not on the envelope). You can make him a little eight page book for him to read. You can send him doodles. Get creative! It will definitely make him smile and laugh when he sees it. And, it will make him feel special by how much work you put into your letter. So, girls, get creative!

4. Print out labels and send them to him. Trust me, neither of you want to write out the long address when he's a boot camp. So, do both of you a favor and print out labels, so he can just stick it on the envelope and send his letter to you faster.

5. Only read his letter a max of three times. And, there's a reason behind this. At my lowest point, I got into the habit of checking my mailbox four times a day to see if there was a letter. And, if there was a letter, the rest of my day was an emotional roller coaster. There's the beginning where you jump up and down and are happy and read his letter to see what he says. But, as I keep reading it four or five more times, I realized how much I miss him and I would have an emotional breakdown and go into my crying phase and the "I want my boyfriend!" phase. So, ladies, yes, read his letters multiple times, but don't read them to the point where they become the opposite of what he intended to do. Don't get to the point where they are more harmful to you then they are good for you.

6. Be patient. Again, I got into the habit of checking my mailbox four times a day, because I was really impatient. I wanted to hear from him and see what he was doing and everything. But, girls, the mailing system sucks! It takes them four days to get it to where he's stationed and then the military inspects it for another two and then they give it to him and he may not have time to write a reply. So, it'll take a solid week for him to receive your letter and send back a reply. And, then to get his reply it has to go through the system all over again. So, be patient.

7. Always be sending letters! Even if you get busy, put aside some time to write a letter to your recruit and send it off to him. Even if he can't reply, he still gets them and they love to get mail. Don't try to sync up with him and be sending letter only after you get his reply. You'll end up with maybe four if you do that. So, keep sending him letters. Never stop sending letters.

8. Keep the letters! I really shouldn't have to say this one. But, yes, keep all the letters he sends you. You'll need to reread them sometimes when you're feeling sad and wanna hear someone calling you "beautiful" or "baby" or even "pretty thing". Keep them in a box where they are easy to access but to where they're not glaring you in the face. I put mine in my jewelry box. So, try to keep all your letters. You'll be able to read them later down the road and it'll be a symbol of your love for each other.

9. Share your letters with other people! Let other people read what he wrote you, so they can better understand what you're going through. I get a letter and I read it, then I pass it to my friends Ashley and Ethan. I hear they're opinion on it and get some advice if there's any sensitive topics. It also let's them be there for me, if I start breaking down. They can hold me and be like "Look. He called you beautiful here" and try to make me feel better by pointing out the positives of the letter. So, don't be afraid to share your letters.

10. End your letters with Semper Fi, but only if he does it first. "Semper Fidelis" is the motto of the Marines and it means "Always Faithful". You come to appreciate and live by those words as you go through waiting for him, especially when he writes "Semper Fi means always faithful, so Semper Fi to you". And, he'll appreciate it too, if you end your letters with "Semper Fi, Love, ________". It's always how I end my letters and he really likes it. He knows what those words mean and he knows that you are staying true and loyal to him by putting that in your letters. So, don't be scared to use the Marine motto.

Well, that's it for today. Hopefully I have given you some awesome tips on how to write love letters to your recruit. Bye!